White Space: Ahhhhhh!

The marketing people at Apple know how to make people feel good. It’s a big part of the company’s success. One thing that they do really well, on their website and on their physical packaging, is the use of white space. The term, white space, simply means the empty space that is not used for anything, and usually it is the color white. For example, the homepage of Apple.com today looks like this:

Look at all of that empty space! It clears the mind, doesn’t it? It allows a viewer to breath deeply and think that the HomePod must be really important, if it deserves to command so much of the page.

This idea is not new. If you go to places where people feel really at peace – say, a monastery, there is very little on the walls. Any decoration you do see has a definite purpose and it was thoughtfully put there. This lack of distraction makes you feel good – kind of the way you feel after folding your laundry and straightening up a room.

Personally, I think it is a real treat when website designers don’t bombard you with a lot of distractions. I already have a lot to think about, and I appreciate the thought put into clearing away as much junk as possible. Because not only is it good for marketing, it’s good for people’s psychological benefit (in my opinion).

UXPin just put out a really good case study on the use of white space and how it may or may not work, sometimes depending upon screen size. The full article is here: